Gleanings from Buddhism

S Balakrishnan *

Buddhist Temple in Bangkok, Thailand in March 2016 :: Pix - WT

Lord Buddha's compassion will enter into anyone, even a lay devotee, who confides in Him in full faith and trust. As they say, faith moves even a mountain. An old woman became a Buddha because of her unassailable faith/trust on Sakyamuni. But it would be unbelievable that it was by means of a dog's tooth that she achieved Buddhahood!

This old woman lived in Tibet, far from India where her son went on business from time to time. Every time he went to India, she would invariably ask him to bring some object of veneration from Bodh Gaya. But every time her son would forget to bring such an object.

So, when he was proceeding for India again, his mother told him that if he forgot that time also she would kill herself before him. Despite this severe reprimand, the son forgot this time also but remembered it only when he neared his home.

He was worried that if he entered the house without an object of veneration his mother would commit suicide. He helplessly looked around when he saw a skull of a dog that gave him an idea.

He pulled out one of the teeth from the dog's skull and wrapped it in a piece of silk. As he entered the house, he handed it over with reverence to his mother saying, "This is the canine tooth of Sakyamuni!"

The old woman believed her son's words and treated the object with much respect and high veneration that she made prostrations and offerings to it daily. Because of her strong faith, many precious offerings came out of the dog's tooth.

The strength of the woman's belief was so powerful that the transforming power of Lord Buddha altered the dog's tooth that it became indistinguishable from the tooth of the Lord Himself!

In another incident, three men became Buddhas because of a small image of Buddha. Once, at the side of a path, there was a small image of Buddha placed by some devotees.

A passer-by was worried that it might be damaged by rain & shine. He could only find a discarded shoe nearby which he placed with much reverence above the image to cover it from the vagaries of weather.

Then another passer-by came that way and was aghast to find a shoe placed above the image. Shocked, he threw it away. Thus, both the one who used the shoe with the good intention as a cover and the other who threw it away as a defiling object later became Bodhisattvas as a fruit of their good intentions, not to speak of the first person who installed it there.

All three are presently said to be Bodhisattvas having attained the fruit of happiness in the higher worlds. Eventually, the seed of liberation will sprout and, by stages, they will become Buddhas! These prove that going for refuge is the cornerstone of all the paths.

H.H. Dalai Lama on
'Harmony between different religions':
Different philosophies are different dishes. If you always repeat the same kind of food in the morning, for lunch and dinner, then you will be fed up and will not like to eat anymore.
It is better to have variety. Similarly in religion, more varieties of religion is useful. So harmony between different religions is very, very important.'


[Courtesy: 'Shunyata' booklet Vol. 4 No.1
issued by Sikkim Buddhists' Association, Gangtok, in 1983
and bought by me on the occasion of Saga Dawa (Buddha Purnima) 1984 for 2 rupees.]